


I liked you the first time I met you, and it grows and grows and grows

by vinterdrog



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Human, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 06:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4468832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vinterdrog/pseuds/vinterdrog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a new guy at Stiles' work, and Stiles can't figure him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I liked you the first time I met you, and it grows and grows and grows

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://legobitar.tumblr.com/post/124115686955/kittykarnstein-thewasteoftime-kabudy-why) prompt. Title is from Hello Saferide's _I wonder who is like this one_.

The first time Stiles sees him, he’s at work and just starting on the tenth hour of an eight-hour shift. Believe it or not, there has been times in his life when he’s felt more attractive than he does right now. Not that he thinks he’ll ever feel up to par to the guy who just walked in, but you know. A shower and a good night’s sleep would at least give him a _chance_. 

He serves ‘Derek’ and ‘Laura’ a plain drip and a hazelnut latte, respectively, and barely gets a glance from either of them in return. Whatever, it’s fine, Stiles has worked at the coffee shop for actual years now, he’s used to being ignored, especially when he looks worse than he feels (and right now, he feels dead on his feet.) Still, it would’ve been nice to have his presence _acknowledged_ by the hottest guy he’s seen since the beginning of time. 

Well, this year, at least. But it’s June, so still, he’s the hottest guy Stiles has seen for quite a while. 

“Have you seen him here before?” Stiles asks Lydia, because they don’t have the same schedule, so Lydia usually works when Stiles doesn’t. Except for today, when Stiles is working the tenth hour of his eight-hour shift, just like he has every other day this week. Fucking Jackson and his fucking off to London. 

“Who?” Lydia asks, already immersed in her statistics textbook. Stiles sometimes thinks he should’ve picked up one or two classes at the community college as he figures out what he _really_ wants to do, but then he sees Lydia’s textbooks, and he’s once again very pleased with just grounding coffee beans and combining syrups for a year. 

“That guy. Derek.” Stiles nods out through the glass walls, where Derek and his...friend are still making their way across the parking lot. 

Lydia looks up and gives them the briefest of glances, then looks down again. “Nope,” she says, plucking a highlighter from the pocket of her apron. “Probably new. Or a tourist. Go call Allison again.”

Stiles sighs, and even though he knows it’s useless, because Allison is out with Scott and won’t answer her phone, he does as he’s told. 

*

The next time Stiles sees Derek, it’s early morning and just the start of Stiles’ shift. He’s slightly less gross this time, isn’t covered in the grime of a full workday yet, and he manages to get eye contact with Derek and give him a smile. He doesn’t get one in return, but at least he isn’t blatantly ignored this time. 

*

That’s as far as it goes, though. Eye contact, and if he’s really lucky, a hint of a smile. After a week or two of this, Stiles gets bored and tries to come up with increasingly creative ways to make Derek _react_.

The easiest, and most dangerous way, is messing up Derek’s order. He doesn’t do it every day, but often enough. Derek quickly becomes a regular, and along with a bunch of other regulars, Stiles tries to have Derek’s order ready when he arrives. As an added bonus to this, he can sneak in weirder and weirder combinations of syrups in it and then watch Derek as he takes a sip and almost always grimaces. He never asks for a new order, though, and he always pays, so he can’t hate it _that_ much. 

Or maybe he’s just terrified of conflict, and thinking about that almost makes Stiles feel bad for a moment, until he realizes that there are at least two other places to get coffee within walking distance, and if Derek really hates his coffee, he can go somewhere else. Since he keeps coming back, he can’t be too opposed. 

He still won’t _talk_ to Stiles, though, he doesn’t even say ‘hi’. As Stiles’ boss frequently likes to remind him, he’s there to _work_ , not _flirt_ , but hey––Stiles is a man of many talents, he can do both at the same time. At least he thought he could, but judging by Derek’s _lack of_ reaction, maybe he can’t. 

Maybe he’s straight. He did come in with that girl the first time. Maybe he thinks _Stiles_ is straight? Which, wow, Stiles has to bite his lip to not laugh out loud over the chai latte he’s making. But fine, anything is possible. 

*

“Dude,” Scott says with a sigh one night as he’s trying to get through his reading assignment, but Stiles keeps interrupting him with by bringing up observations about Derek. “Just talk to him?”

Stiles gets so shocked he drives Yoshi off the Rainbow Road. “Dude! I can’t _talk to him_?!”

Scott looks at him. “You talk all the time. You never shut up. You talk _in your sleep_.”

“But he’s like a wall! I mean, he’s slightly more responsive than a wall, but he doesn’t talk! He doesn’t even say hey back.”

“Okay, fine, ignore him then!” Scott cries, frustrated.

Stiles pauses the game and turns around on the couch, facing him properly. “Dude.”

“Sorry,” Scott says, dragging a hand over his face. “But, seriously. I need to get through this,” he points at his book, “and you’re not exactly helping.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Stiles says. He turns back to the TV and unpauses the game, and when he manages to keep silent for five consecutive minutes, they both count it as a win. 

*

About a month after Derek came by the coffee shop the first time, Stiles has his first Saturday off in...a very, _very_ long time. He sleeps until noon, just because he can, then stumbles out of bed and downstairs in need of coffee. He doesn’t register the voices coming from the kitchen until he’s standing in the doorway, and that’s also when he realizes he’s wearing a t-shirt and Batman boxers, and that the person his dad is talking to is _Derek_. 

Derek is in Stiles’ kitchen. Talking to his dad. On a Saturday. _What the fuck_. 

“Uhm,” Stiles says, because he’s eloquent like that. 

“Good morning,” his dad says, unimpressed by Stiles’ general presence. ”Sleep well?”

“Uh, yeah,” Stiles says, still stuck in the doorway. “What,” he continues, waving a hand in their general direction. 

“This is Derek, he’s one of the new deputies. And this is Stiles,” his dad says, glances up and down Stiles’ length, then sighs. “He’s my son.”

Stiles follows his gaze, looking down at himself, and oh. He’s wearing his _Say hey if you’re gay_ t-shirt. Shit. 

“Hi,” he says with an awkward wave, trying not to be bothered by the situation. 

“Hey,” Derek says, smiling at him, and _oh_. 

Okay, then. Stiles can work with this. 


End file.
